Tuesday, 13 November 2012

It's well known that swiss trains run to time - and it's good to see that Apple's iOS Operating System is using the image of the iconic Swiss railway clock on the screen. Unfortunately Apple seem to have forgotten to check the trade mark rights on the image in Switzerland which has now lead to around CHF 20 Million being paid in a one-off licence fee, according to Swiss Daily Tagesanzeiger. Given the popularity of Swiss railways (8,585 US billion kilometres travelled in the first half of 2012), this is not really going to reduce the fares in Switzerland. It's however a nice little present in the run-up to Christmas and a reminder to all Apple fans as to how well trains run in Switzerland.
Presumably, however, the Mondaine watch company is not madly happy about the deal. They've been producing the "Offical Swiss Railway" watches under licence to Swiss railways for a number of years.
Further information (in English) at the following link.